Ascending like an otherworldly, dotty blue monolith, the 196-foot-tall Fletcher Hotel offers what has to be one of the oddest hotel options in all of Amsterdam. Built in 2013 by Dutch architectural firm Benthem Crouwel Architects, the cylindrical building serves as both a quirky welcome to passing motorists just entering the city, and as a means for tourists to enjoy 360 degree views from the sky lounge on the top floor. The exterior of the building is made entirely from glass, with disk shaped cut-outs everywhere but the very top, which opts for floor-to-ceiling windows.
Despite the 18-floor height, the entire hotel measures in at just 78 feet in diameter, with 120 curving rooms that encircle the staircase and elevator at the core of the hotel. As one would hope from such a bold building, the Fletcher's interiors look appropriately space-age. The lounge, for example, has a huge, bean-shaped piano that had to be hauled into place via crane. In each suite, surprisingly trendy tube-like showers emulate the shape of the hotel itself, and offer the always pleasurable opportunity to take in unobstructed, panoramic views while in the nude. Find a few more shots right this way.
· Fletcher Hotel Amsterdam [Architizer]
· Cylindrical Fletcher hotel designed by Benthem Crouwel, Amsterdam [Design Boom]
· All Hotels Week coverage [Curbed National]